Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the SailNet Community forums, you must first register. Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.Please note: After entering 3 characters a list of Usernames already in use will appear and the list will disappear once a valid Username is entered.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Click here to view the posting rules you are bound to when clicking the'Submit Reply' button below

Topic Review (Newest First)

07-19-2016 09:10 PM

RobGallagher

Re: What's your biggest bonehead move sailing?

I once caught Charley Cobra leering at my dinghy. Thank Buddha it was my inflatable and not my hard bottom.

That has got to be the creepiest internet wink in history given that CharlieCobra is now a convicted pedophile.

07-19-2016 11:45 AM

zeehag

Re: What's your biggest bonehead move sailing?

bonehead move-- i put a windgen on top of a wood mast.
what could go wrong??

and then along came patricia.........
oops now i need to repair and or replace my mizzen mast.

oops.

07-19-2016 11:09 AM

RobGallagher

Re: What's your biggest bonehead move sailing?

A little new to this life at the dock after being on a mooring for years. It's really tight getting out so I use a spring line to get the boat turning in the right direction before casting off.

Girlfriend on the bow, looking smoking hot in those shorts and inflatable PFD, sporting a boat hook like a harpoon. Leaving on our first vacation cruise together. Extended forecast is hot but beautiful, block Island here we come!

We are idling in reverse with an aft spring attached that helps push the bow off the dock. Ice in the box, packed enough food, beer, wine and clothes for a month. I got her a copy of Sailing for Dummies. What could possible go wrong?

I go to neutral and release the spring, forward gear....nothing, we are stuck to the dock, feels like we are aground. She looks back at me with this look that says "I thought we are leaving?" I'm looking around like a dumbass as she points with the boat hook and asks if the stern line should still be on the cleat behind me. Bow has now fallen back to the dock so we start again.

Reattach forward spring line, revers idle, wait for the bow to come up off the dock, this time I the remove stern line then the spring and away we go...not.

Again I get the look, "are we leaving?" as the bow comes back to the dock. I look around dumfounded, are we aground?

Another point with the extended boat hook, this time at the forward spring line, "don't you have to unhook that before we go?"

As she stands on the bow and stabs at my mistakes with a harpoon I can't help but wonder who needs the book more.

OK, lets try this again...

07-19-2016 04:04 AM

Frogc

Re: What's your biggest bonehead move sailing?

[QUOTE=Classic30;3584721]Well, I suppose not using a bilge pump controller (with in-built fuse for 'bonehead prevention') under the circumstances you describe could certainly be classed as a bonehead move. They're not expensive.. really.

In this particular case the bonehead is clearly the person who previously placed their dirty grabbing appendages on the electrical system without adult supervision. No question I dodged a bullet here.

Edit:

I feel I ought to clarify my criticism here as there is not enough context for an uninformed reader to appreciate the harsh tone of the above comment. Firstly, my remarks over "dodging a bullet" are accurate, but are not entirely based on my observed state of the bilge pump wiring. It is a no-brainer to observe that wiring subject to water immersion should not allow conductors to come into contact with said water. Never. But on a boat piloted in salt-water it is not unlikely that sea water will get into the bilge for one reason or another, and the existing setup guarantees that the automatic bilge pump will fail in short order if this occurs. Strike one.

This was not the only problem with the electrics. As delivered, the boat came with three batteries. Two 6V golf-cart batteries wired in series were also mated with a single 12V marine battery also wired parallel to the GC batteries. The 12V was completely destroyed as evidenced by warped and buckled plates which had fractured and expanded almost out of the electrolyte fill ports. Quiescent voltage on this battery was approximately .6V after removal. I have do not have the diagnostic capability to properly assess the GC batteries, but they seem to hold a half-decent charge despite the abuse they must have suffered. Strike two. The main battery switch, which is typical and allows for two battery banks was wired 'backwards and sideways', for lack of a better term. A serious hazard. Strike three. The batteries themselves were unsecured in the engine-space and could have easily bounced around the EC in heavy seas or as the result of a collision while tethered to their respective cables. Strike four. As I mentioned in another message, engine compartment bilge water was allowed to reach the engine flywheel without bailing and splashed all over the electrical system mounted to port of the engine. Sufficient running time under this condition has led to corrosion on the engine block and notably to two engine mounts which will require replacement sooner rather than later. Strike five. All of these electrical system defects are easy fixes, requiring only trivial expenditure to remediate, destroyed batteries notwithstanding. It is apparent that the boat has been used extensively while these extant defects permitted to fester. Strike six. Lack of an engine-space bilge pump is a further regrettable oversight. Strike six point five.

The Internet is sometimes a small place and the responsible PO might become known and it would be unfair to level the 'bonehead' label on the basis of the bilge pump alone. Lacking electrical competence, he should have refrained from working on it and referred the matter to a competent professional.

Perhaps. Let me backtrack a little and round out the problem a little more clearly.

Automatic bilge pump has two wires connected to the DC system as you would expect. The + and - wires are not insulated from salt-water which might accumulate in the bilge where they are joined and extended to terminal blocks aft ......

Well, I suppose not using a bilge pump controller (with in-built fuse for 'bonehead prevention') under the circumstances you describe could certainly be classed as a bonehead move. They're not expensive.. really.

Perhaps. Let me backtrack a little and round out the problem a little more clearly.

Automatic bilge pump has two wires connected to the DC system as you would expect. The + and - wires are not insulated from salt-water which might accumulate in the bilge where they are joined and extended to terminal blocks aft. Salt water at 20C has a resistance of .2 Ohms with electrodes separated by 1m according to "The Net Of A Million Lies".

The wires in question -- wrapped in typical electrical tape which should not stop salt-water reaching the conductor much at all over time -- can be considered to be in a short-circuit state for the purpose of this gendankenexeperiment as their separation (+ to -) is much less than one meter. I would expect furious gas production in the bilge as the battery attempts to jam 500 "CCA"+ across the all-but-short-circuit.

Maybe I should try it out, but frankly I am chicken. I don't want to break anything unnecessarily. If I have not messed up my constants I'd say that 12V marine batteries and sea water equals time-bomb. JFC.

Way back in my misspent youth I did a school project demonstrating electrolysis in salt-water, so I know there is going to be current draw with + and - soaking in the drink. Perhaps not great gobs of power, but certainly something. Lacking a great deal of experience with marine 12V systems, I don't know offhand how much, but I would be surprised if it is negligible.

Disclaimer: Not an EE.

Me neither but I have been around salt water and 12v a bit.

Perhaps you are due for another experiment.

07-18-2016 08:57 PM

Frogc

Re: What's your biggest bonehead move sailing?

Therapy23,

Way back in my misspent youth I did a school project demonstrating electrolysis in salt-water, so I know there is going to be current draw with + and - soaking in the drink. Perhaps not great gobs of power, but certainly something. Lacking a great deal of experience with marine 12V systems, I don't know offhand how much, but I would be surprised if it is negligible.